Community rallies around Brooklyn shelter closed due to eminent domain

A homeless shelter serving a predominantly African-American population at 603 Dean Street in Downtown Brooklyn, within the planned Atlantic Yards development area, was shut down yesterday, on Martin Luther King Jr. Day, through the use of eminent domain, sparking outrage in the community. Local officials, including City Council member Letitia James and State Senator Velmanette Montgomery, joined neighborhood advocates and Freddy’s Bar, whose outlandish protests of the Atlantic Yards eminent domain seizure have drawn local exposure, in protesting the closure of the Pacific Dean Shelter. The vigil, which began at midnight yesterday outside the recently-closed facility, came on the heels of a weekend-long protest of the shuttering. “I will put myself on the ground in front of the bulldozers,” Montgomery said during the protest Saturday. “I will do anything I can to stop this.” The video above contains footage of the protest.